Windows 8.1 with Bing will be on many lower-cost devices

Many new lower-cost Windows devices will come with Windows 8.1 with Bing to make Windows devices available to an even greater number of customers and at a broader range of price points, it was announced Friday.

“Windows 8.1 with Bing provides all the same great experiences that Windows 8.1 offers with the Windows 8.1 Update, and comes with Bing as the default search engine within Internet Explorer,” writes Brandon LeBlanc on the Windows Experience Blog. “And of course customers will be able to change that setting through the Internet Explorer menu, providing them with control over search engine settings. This new edition will be only be available preloaded on devices from our hardware partners. Some of these devices, in particular tablets, will also come with Office or a one-year subscription to Office 365.”

Some of these Windows 8.1 with Bing devices will be unveiled by hardware partners at Computex in Taipei, June 3-4.

In 2013, Microsoft began to ease its approach to device certification and reduced some hardware component requirements to make it possible for OEMs to offer a lower-cost range of devices. Most recently, with the Windows 8.1 Update, hardware partners can build lower-cost devices with only 1GB of memory and 16GB of storage “that provide customers with the fast and fluid experience they expect from a Windows device,” LeBlanc writes.